3 ms·

So far as I am aware, every US state is split into counties, and most entities (cities, districts, etc) exist within counties. Maybe there should be a “falseho

by abtinf 2y ago

So far as I am aware, every US state is split into counties, and most entities (cities, districts, etc) exist within counties. Maybe there should be a “falsehoods programmers believe about government structure” article, but I can think of very few exceptions. “cleveland.cuyahoga.ohio.gov” seems like a logically guessable domain.

EvanAnderson 2y ago
Oh, I agree. It's logically guessable and the right hierarchy. It'd also never fly. >smile< > So far as I am aware, every US state is split into counties... re: falsehoods - Alaska has no counties. Louisiana has "Parishes". Connecticut and Rhode Island have counties but no county governments. Also, see Townships.
- saalweachter 2y ago
  I'm always a little bit angry that New York calls Townships Towns.
- abtinf 2y ago
  > Connecticut and Rhode Island have counties but no county governments This breaks my brain.
  - bombcar 2y ago
    And even where everything seems the same on paper, different states can handle things wildly differently. Some the counties run almost everything except where a large city is, some the county does almost nothing, and everything is tied to whatever the biggest town is.
- mistrial9 2y ago
  All of these are tiny exceptions compared to the vast number of counties within US States. However, reality is made of exceptions! All things considered, it is interesting and important to have local exceptions in a nation IMHO.
- 201984 2y ago
  Virginia is another edge case here, where cities aren't part of counties and are directly under the state. If you look at a map, you'll see holes in a bunch of counties where the cities are, e.g. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_counties_in_Virginia#/media/File%3AMap_of_Virginia_Counties_and_Independent_Cities.svg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_counties_...
- xp84 2y ago
  Sometimes I think our country would be better understood as 50-something separate countries, kind of like the EU, except without the general goal the EU has of increasing amounts of cooperation and convergence. Since in America, everything that’s different from one place to another is generally different because somebody very influential wants it to be. As programmers I feel like all this inconsistency drives us crazy because it seems pointless, but as a citizen, I can see how it would be a tremendous waste of effort to try to force national standardization merely for standardization’s sake when we have so many real problems that need to be addressed.
saalweachter 2y ago
New York spans five counties, which lack county governments, instead having borough governments subordinate to the city government. Washington, DC is a city which is in neither a state nor a county. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._municipalities_in_multiple_counties https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._municipalities_... has a hundred or so cities that span counties.
- mistrial9 2y ago
  it turns out, cities are among the least well-defined geographical features in local government of the USA. There are many odd and unusual arrangements at the city level. The US Census maintains a collection of more clearly defined entities.
dragonwriter 2y ago
I can think of lots of exceptions to the part about substate public entities existing within counties; CA, for instance, has quite a number of JPAs and similar entities that involve multiple counties, or entities from multiple counties, for some purpose; e.g., The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, etc.

by abtinf 2y ago

EvanAnderson 2y ago

Oh, I agree. It's logically guessable and the right hierarchy. It'd also never fly. >smile< > So far as I am aware, every US state is split into counties... re: falsehoods - Alaska has no counties. Louisiana has "Parishes". Connecticut and Rhode Island have counties but no county governments. Also, see Townships.

saalweachter 2y ago
I'm always a little bit angry that New York calls Townships Towns.
abtinf 2y ago
> Connecticut and Rhode Island have counties but no county governments This breaks my brain.
- bombcar 2y ago
  And even where everything seems the same on paper, different states can handle things wildly differently. Some the counties run almost everything except where a large city is, some the county does almost nothing, and everything is tied to whatever the biggest town is.
mistrial9 2y ago
All of these are tiny exceptions compared to the vast number of counties within US States. However, reality is made of exceptions! All things considered, it is interesting and important to have local exceptions in a nation IMHO.
201984 2y ago
Virginia is another edge case here, where cities aren't part of counties and are directly under the state. If you look at a map, you'll see holes in a bunch of counties where the cities are, e.g. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_counties_in_Virginia#/media/File%3AMap_of_Virginia_Counties_and_Independent_Cities.svg https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_counties_...
xp84 2y ago
Sometimes I think our country would be better understood as 50-something separate countries, kind of like the EU, except without the general goal the EU has of increasing amounts of cooperation and convergence. Since in America, everything that’s different from one place to another is generally different because somebody very influential wants it to be. As programmers I feel like all this inconsistency drives us crazy because it seems pointless, but as a citizen, I can see how it would be a tremendous waste of effort to try to force national standardization merely for standardization’s sake when we have so many real problems that need to be addressed.

saalweachter 2y ago

New York spans five counties, which lack county governments, instead having borough governments subordinate to the city government. Washington, DC is a city which is in neither a state nor a county. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._municipalities_in_multiple_counties https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._municipalities_... has a hundred or so cities that span counties.

mistrial9 2y ago
it turns out, cities are among the least well-defined geographical features in local government of the USA. There are many odd and unusual arrangements at the city level. The US Census maintains a collection of more clearly defined entities.

dragonwriter 2y ago

I can think of lots of exceptions to the part about substate public entities existing within counties; CA, for instance, has quite a number of JPAs and similar entities that involve multiple counties, or entities from multiple counties, for some purpose; e.g., The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, etc.